Before I Come Undone
by Splash of Blue
Summary: My first ever Buffy fic; a Slayer-in-training turns up and manages to seriously annoy Buffy and some of her friends. Holly came out of a Litmus test without being a Mary Sue; read and tell me whether YOU agree!


A/N: An anti-Mary Sue piece, written to –hopefully- show that not all OCs have to suck. ::prays fervently:: But also because my plotbunny came up and bit me on the arse until I wrote the plan for this. I'm trying to stay in character; the operative word here being _trying_. Scream at me a bit- so long as it's _constructive _screaming- if I royally screw up, please. And if I don't mess up, hit the lovely lil blue button at the bottom and tell me so- you'll likely make my day, especially if it's a day in which I've been set oceans of homework (that's nearly every day). 

Updates are not going to be regular, I warn you here and now, since I've got two years of major exams ahead of me (GCSEs, if you're wondering)- exams which could well decide whether I'll be a multi-millionaire or a Big Issue seller, or so I'm being told almost daily. I only wish I was kidding.

Usual attitude to flames: welcomed if constructive, otherwise expect pitchforks. Title will change.

Before I Come Undone by Rubii Firestorm 

_They're out to get you, to capture you and make you _

_Spellbound_

_Howling and prowling, you're shivering, quivering_

_Spellbound_

_You cannot run, and you cannot hide_

_Yeah, you gotta face it baby things go bump in the night_

_Wherever you run, and wherever you hide_

_Yeah, you gotta face it baby things go bump, bump, bump in the night_

"Hey, Giles!" Buffy called, strolling into the library just before the bell for the first day of term. Her Watcher looked up from the book he'd been buried in, sitting at his desk. Willow and Xander were already there: Willow at the computer, checking her e-mail by the look of it, and Xander flipping through a skateboarding magazine.

"Good morning, Buffy," Giles replied stiffly, closing his book, as the others grinned and said 'hi'. "Erm, I've been meaning to tell you since I got the letter yesterday- you can expect a new 'slayerette', as you so aptly put it, to turn up in the next few weeks- and her Watcher."

Buffy's smile dropped like a vampire's blood-drained victim. "Oh no. Giles, no. I work alone. No more new slayers, comprende? Not after Kendra…"

Giles attempted to ignore her. "The Watcher's name is Lucas Matthews- an old pupil of mine. As to the Slayer, the letter neglected to mention. _What_ the Watchers' Council is up to…"

Buffy waved one hand in front of his face. "Giles? Earth to Tweed-man? Anybody in there?" Giles only blinked; Buffy sighed and gave in to her fate- for the moment, noting with a vague resentment that she seemed to be doing more and more of that these days. "All right then- how did she become a Slayer? 'Cos y'know, that 'one-in-every-generation' thing is getting really screwed up." 

Giles took off his glasses and polished them on his jumper. "Well, she's not actually a Slayer- yet. I believe I mentioned once or twice before that other girls with the ability to become a Slayer are given a Watcher and trained for their task, should the current Chosen One die suddenly?" He looked around; the others' faces were blank. Giles looked exasperated. "Good grief, what have I been doing these last few years, bashing my head against a brick wall? I really don't know why I bother… Well, _anyway_, she's a Londoner considered one of three most likely to be the one to come into her full powers when Buffy, ah, retires."

Buffy and Willow exchanged looks. As they all knew far too well, the only way for a Slayer to 'retire' was for her to die- not exactly the brightest of topics for any Monday morning.

"Pack some lightness into the morning, why don't you, Giles?" asked Xander. "Though you'll be forgiven if you now tell me she's a smoking hottie."

"For some reason, my letter didn't say," Giles answered with some asperity, frowning at Xander over his spectacles. "Obviously a glaring omission of theirs."

"_Obviously. _But never mind that, why's she coming over here?" asked Buffy. "Haven't they got enough upper-class English vamps in London?" 

"We could lend them a few of ours," suggested Willow helpfully.

"Actually, that's exactly the problem," answered the Watcher. "Britain is no longer the vampire and demon breeding ground it once was- there are a few, of course, but in the main the, ah, supernatural element consists of spectres and zombies. The Watchers' Council felt that she needed more experience fighting vampires should she have to take over in a hurry, so they're sending her and her Watcher over for six months."

"Hey guys," said Oz, entering, then (seeing the look on Buffy's face), "What's up?" 

"Buffy's been Single White Femaled again," Xander reported, trying and failing to keep the mirth from his face.

"Cool." Oz raised his eyebrows. "Who by?"

"Some London chick. She's supposed to be the Slayer who'll come into her powers when Buff gets the big hurt." 

"Thanks," Buffy said dryly.

It was first period, and Xander raised his eyebrows at Buffy as a new girl was ushered into their Maths class by the secretary, interrupting Mr. Lewis. The two adults conferred in whispers for a moment, giving the class time to stare at the new girl. In return, she stared back at them, her cheeks flaming crimson in their collective glare. She was short, about the same height as Buffy, with sleek dark chocolate hair hanging to just below her shoulders and bright blue eyes glinting laughingly behind small oval glasses with black frames. Her small, pointed pale face with a strong chin, a slightly turned-up nose sprinkled lightly with freckles and a full red mouth bearing a wicked grin was by no means conventionally pretty, but she was certainly attractive, her sharp cheekbones only marred by a single red zit. Her body was slim, almost skinny, and wiry, with all the curves of a rake, and she wore a pale blue fitted shirt with mid-length sleeves, navy jeans patched artistically with red- or blue-and-white checks that made her look as though her legs went on forever, and dark brown high-heeled boots. 

"New Slayerette-in-training, perchance?" Xander asked Buffy, leaning across from the desk behind her on the right. She shook her head doubtfully.

"I don't think so," she whispered back. "I mean, no offence to her, but all the Slayers I've ever heard of were, y'know, beautiful, and she's not, not really."

Xander rolled his eyes at her. "Hark to the modest one."

"Anyway, Giles said she was coming in the next week or so. When has our favourite uptight Englishman ever been wrong?"

Xander shrugged. "He wouldn't have to be- just whoever sent him that letter."

"Wow, who died and made you Suspicious Slayerette of the month? And what's with all the perchances and harks?"

Xander was about to retort when Mr. Lewis cleared his throat, and all students flipped their attention back to him.

"Er-ahem, class, this is Holly Kendal, and she will be joining us for six months from…"

"London," the new girl supplied, her speech fast and lilting, as though she turned every sentence into a question.

"Ah yes, London. Miss Chase, could you show Holly around for a week or so, please? Miss Kendal, please go sit over there at the spare desk next to Cordelia."

"Oh that poor kid," Amy Madison muttered to her neighbour at the back. "Can you _imagine_ being a new kid and being 'shown around' by Cordelia Chase?"

"Sadly, yeah," the other girl whispered back. "How long d'you reckon this one'll last before she either hits her or bursts into tears? My money's on a day."

"Nah, she looks tougher than that. I give it a week, tops."

And as Holly walked quickly over to the desk next to Cordy's, her eyes down and her cheeks red in the typical 'embarrassed new kid' pose so well known to kids the world over, Buffy heard a familiar voice mutter "London? Now who do we know is coming from London soon?" just behind her and to the right.

She didn't need to glance back at Xander to know he was smirking. 

Slayer Patrol that night, and Buffy was tired, irritated and impatient. Tired because, y'know, first day of school, up since seven, and all. Irritated because in three hours of darkness, she had not seen or even sensed a single vampire, and around Sunnydale, that usually meant the vamps were building up to something special. Impatient because she really wanted whatever the bastards were building up to to happen, and go home, and go to sleep.

At last she sat down on a nearby wall, and was about to give up, go home, and take whatever frozen expressions Giles would pull when he found out, when she saw Holly, a tiny torch hanging around her neck, talking to a tall guy cloaked in shadow so that she couldn't see his face. Buffy, however, didn't need to see his face to know that he was a vampire. She leapt to her feet and ran towards them, wondering why Holly herself didn't realise that whoever she was talking to was a vamp. But then, maybe you only got a Slayer Sense when you were the Slayer proper. Whatever was going on, Buffy 

ran.

Holly hadn't bothered to check into the school library, which was apparently where the Slayer and her allies gathered, before heading out on Patrol. She'd figured that the longer it was before they all found out her secret, the better. Holly was afraid of the dark. Her older brother had locked her in a cupboard once as a little kid for annoying him, leaving her there for several hours, and ever since, she hadn't been able to face the dark without a light. Hence the torch she carried everywhere on Slayer Patrol. But a Slayer –even a lowly in-training one- who was afraid of the dark? The Watcher's Council had had plenty of fun with that one, and after a day of verbal put-downs from that Cordelia girl, she hadn't been able to handle any more of that kind of thing. Which was precisely why Lucas, her Watcher and resident man-on-her-back, was currently giving her grief.

"Look, I know it's only your first day, but you've got to make yourself known-"

"Holly, move!" A blonde girl raced out of thin air towards them, the stake in her hand pointed straight

for Lucas.

"Shit!" she swore, pushing the man out of the way and yanking out a stake of her own as she managed to knock Buffy's out of the way. She flung herself forwards to intercept the Slayer as the other threw herself into the air. Holly dropped her own stake –it was doubtful if it would have worked anyway- and yanked hold of the leg that threatened to kick Lucas in the chest. She swung it round her head, grunting with the effort. When she let the leg go, the girl should have flown through the air to hit a wall. Instead the Slayer curled into a ball and struck the wall feet first, cartwheeling away to kick her in the head. She also broke both Holly's torch and her glasses, but she had no time think of that. Holly dropped to the floor, her head spinning, as Buffy grabbed a new stake and aimed for Lucas. 

"You silly bitch!" she gasped, shaking her head to clear it as she levered herself up, and moving so that she was between Slayer and intended slayee. "_He's not a vampire, _you stupid tart!"

This, at least, brought the Slayer to a halt. "_What_?"

"I'm not a vampire, you… idiot," Lucas managed to snarl. "While I was training, I was nearly turned into one, but the vampire was slain before the transformation could happen completely. So… I register as a vampire on a Slayer Sense. Holly, are you all right?"

"Only if you're _meant_ to see things out of focus," she grumbled, glaring at Buffy. "Ooh, but wait, you broke my glasses too, didn't you, little miss superslayer? Just as well I've got a spare pair…"__

"Calm down, it's an honest mistake," Lucas soothed. "You're just ratty because you're afr- ow!"

Holly had kicked him none-too-gently on the ankle. She then gave him a look midway between embarrassment and exasperation, and Lucas shut up.

"What are you afraid of?" Buffy asked keenly, interested. 

"Never you mind," Holly snapped, exasperated with the pair of them, with herself, with her life. She was also close to tears- after being jetlagged, bitched-at, homesick _and_ having to start a new school, she was exhausted and her head was throbbing horribly. It was all too much, so she did what she always did when this happened, wise or not: she got angry. "Look, I may be here to learn how to slay vampires, but I sure as hell don't want to be. So keep out of my way and I'll keep out of yours, capice?"

"Hey, maybe we're not too fussed on having you either," Buffy said lightly, slightly disconcerted. This was _not_ how she'd expected the new Slayer to be; too much like her own attitude when she'd found out her destiny as Chosen One for comfort.

"C'mon Lucas, this whole thing's completely fucked. Let's go home." Holly stalked off up the street. Her Watcher swapped an exasperated-but-resigned look with Buffy and raised his eyes to heaven. 

"Hey, I'm Lucas Matthews," the young man said lightly, holding out one hand for Buffy to shake. "You'll be the famous Slayer?"

"Yeah, that's me," said Buffy, shaking it. "Buffy Summers. What's the deal with her?"

"Oh, she's just jet-lagged- and caffeine-ed out," Lucas grinned. "Nothing worse than usual, really."

Holly looked back, glaring at the two, and Buffy got a fleeting impression of more than irritation coming from the other girl. "Look, are you coming or what?"

"Coming, oh great mistress," he muttered, grinning slightly at Buffy, then strolled up the street after Holly.

"See you around," she called after him, and Lucas raised a hand in acknowledgment before disappearing round a corner.


End file.
